1. Our Full Day Kindergarten
Classroom
Stefanie Palmer and Maria Cabal Garces
Early Learning Team
St. Joseph School
October 16th, 2014
2. Agenda
• Class Activities
• Full Day Kindergarten (FDK) in practice
– The FDK Curriculum
– The FDK Team
– The Kindergarteners
– The Environment
– Our Flow of the Day
• An ECE’s perceptions
• The Teacher’s perceptions
• The Principal’s perceptions
• Q&A
5. The FDK Curriculum
“Play and academic work are not distinct categories for
young children, and learning and doing are also inextricably
linked for them.”
(Ontario Ministry of Education, 2010)
6. Inquiry Based Learning
• What?
– Capitalizes on children’s natural curiosity
– Guided by the educators
24. Areas of
Learning
Big Ideas
Personal and
Social
Development
Children are connected to others and
contribute to their world.
Emotional
Development
Children have a strong sense of identity and
well-being.
Program Expectations
25. Areas of
Learning
Big Ideas
Language Children are effective communicators.
Mathematics
Young children have a conceptual
understanding of mathematics and of
mathematical thinking and reasoning.
Science and
Technology
Children are curious and connect prior
knowledge to new contexts in order to
understand the world around them.
Program Expectations
26. Program Expectations
Areas of
Learning
Big Ideas
The Arts
Young children have an innate openness to
artistic activities.
Health and
Physical Activity
Children make healthy choices and develop
physical skills.
27. The FDK team
“A collaborative and complementary partnership”
“The team determines the quality of the learning
program that the children will experience”.
(Ontario Ministry of Education, 2010)
28. The FDK team
“A collaborative and complementary partnership”
Video
• “Getting ready to welcome full day kindergarten students”
29. The FDK team
• Teacher
– Long term planning and organization of the
program
– Student learning and effective instruction
– Formative assessment and evaluation
– Formal reporting and communication with
families
30. The FDK team
• Early Childhood Educator
– Focus on age-appropriate program planning
– Provide opportunities to contribute to
formative assessment and evaluation
– Implementation of the integrated extended
day
34. The Kindergarteners
• Four- to five-year-olds
• Average of 26 children per classroom
– Ratio 1:13
– No cap for Kindergarten classes
• Most schools have split JK/SK classes
37. The Environment
“Early-Learning-Kindergarten teams should ensure
that the learning environment is inclusive and that
it is one in which children feel comfortable and
safe, yet stimulated to learn and explore”.
(Ontario Ministry of Education, 2010)
54. Teacher’s Perspective
• Advantages
– Play effective learning
– Differentiated learning in small groups
– Less time with paper and pencil
– Children learn through experience
– Children attend everyday
– The environment supports self-regulation
– Fantastic having an ECE
55. Teacher’s Perspective
• Challenges
– Large class sizes
– Small classrooms
– Teachers who do not understand play
based learning
– The relationship can be challenging if
personalities clash
– The team members’ roles are not clearly
defined
– Lack of time for planning as a team
56. ECE’s Perspective
• A great step to have play-based learning
within the school setting
• What I would have like to know that…
– FDK ≠ childcare or daycare
– The partnership with the teacher can be difficult
– Initial training was superficial
– DNA ratios do not apply
– This was going to be the most rewarding
experience of my life
57. Principal’s Perspective
• Advantages
– Children attend everyday
– More levelled playing field for learning
• Play-based learning
– Gaps get addressed early
– The children have not had any difficulties
transitioning into the full day program
